The purpose of the qualitative collective case study is to identify the weaknesses in the methods used to recruit highly qualified African American preservice teachers in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. The data collection process consisted of one-on-one, open-ended interview questions with 10 highly qualified African American public school teachers and 10 other African American professionals in the areas of business, law, medicine, and technology in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Of the 10 teachers, four were males and six were females. Of the 10 other professionals, five were males and five were females. All of the participants were college graduates and all teachers were fully certified. After confirming that the data collected were accurate, the transcripts were entered into SurveyMonkey.com, an online survey and analysis service. The analysis resulted in five common themes: (a) perception of education, (b) early career influences, (c) personal factors in making career decisions, (d) perception of career benefits, and (e) recruitment methods. The findings in this study suggested a lack of awareness of the significant cultural impact that highly qualified African American classroom teachers have on African American students, a lack of early and long term recruitment strategies, and a lack of fringe benefits and incentives to attract highly qualified African Americans to even the competition from more lucrative professions. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]